BroadcastChic
Excellent, a Must See
Kidskycom
It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.
Lachlan Coulson
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
rddj05
Well, the critics loved it, and yes, it's got that certain verisimilitude that the hundreds of gritty, bleak, docudramas have had before it. And yet, there's not a single thing about this film that makes you want to keep watching. It's got the traditional aspects; the gray/blue washed out color palette, the going-nowhere, stuck in a dead end job lead character, the "I knew a guy just like that in my home town" older brother, that these films always seem to have. The film focuses on endlessly bleak subject matter that it just can't seem to rise above. The cast of characters are fairly stock, and not particularly interesting, and are the usual denizens of working-class middle America. However, America Ferrera does stand out in a relatively small and somewhat thankless role. Screenwriters write monologues to attract name-talent to their projects, but after awhile the endless sloppy exposition just becomes too painful to listen to (Note: if your characters are launching into "Remember whens.." in every other scene, your in dangerous territory.) The lead actor does a decent job, but isn't a particularly interesting to watch, and the setting created certainly isn't much more interesting to look at. In the end, you just feel as if the actors have nowhere to go with this script, but they will surely all have a few scenes for their personal reels. There's nothing here that couldn't have been handled just as well in a documentary. There isn't much of a story here, but the events are more or less predictable, with the exception of an especially improbable "plot" twist two-thirds through the film. No one really seems to want anything, except maybe to get through another day. And as the viewer, you find yourself just trying to get to the end of the film.
Mike B
This is worth it. If you like a movie with good dialogue and real character interactions then this is for you. The characters are not contrived and unlike a lot of movies this one gets better as it moves along. It's family based (but it's not a Disney family) – father and sons, with girlfriends and ex-girlfriends. Also the movie doesn't lose itself in aimless psychological meanderings.Like most families there are things that are kept hidden – but it's the rivalries and conflicts that come out best in this movie. Although I did like the reconciliations at the end of the movie, perhaps it was a little too smooth?
charlytully
. . . as STEEL CITY's main character Paul Joseph "P.J." Lee (played by Thomas Guiry) informs his ex-Marine Uncle Vic (Raymond J. Barry) early on. This movie boils down to an eternally-ungrateful P.J. getting countless breaks from nearly everyone in his life, wrapping up with the most implausible outcome imaginable--an ironic close which will be troubling to any viewer who has given this film the slightest attention, unless they are a total cynic already. Salvaging a better-than-average 7-out-of-10 rating, however, are plausible acting performances from Guiry, Barry, John Heard as P.J.'s self-sacrificing dad Carl, America Ferrera as his ambitious girlfriend Amy, Laurie Metcalf as P.J.'s nurse mom Marianne, James McDaniel as P.J.'s cop step-dad Randall, and so on through the supporting cast. It's too bad the whole flick is set up for the "other shoe" to drop on P.J.--and it never does! P.S.--To "From Granite City, IL" who starts off saying "I live in 'Steel City' . . ." It seems only fair that a "city" (that term seems to be used here somewhat loosely) should have just ONE natural resource or manufacturing nickname (and I somehow thought PITTSBURGH was "Steel City" already--what, with the Steelers and all). The "steel mill" shown in this movie looks like a steel mini-warehouse to anyone who has seen FLASHDANCE! To illustrate what I mean, I suppose someone once had an actual "rosebush" here where I live (maybe someone still does!). I know the Van Goghs down the street have a tulip bed . . . hmmmm--that must make as "Tulip City," as well. But wait--at the edge of "town" the Greens' farm has that pumpkin patch; come October people come from as far away as Oil City to buy one. So we're "Pumpkin City," too. Furthermore, most near every home here has trees in the front AND backyards: we could be "Tree City." To sum up: If Granite City is in the top three towns nationwide for either granite or steel, better take that nickname. If not, "Podunk's" still available.
UnionFighterUnionVoter
This movie caught my eye because I live in a "Steel City"...Granite City, IL. Although the IMDb didn't list it among the original photography sites, many of the scenes that got my attention were from my home town.The shots in Scene 6 on the DVD with the Petri's Cafe and United Steelworkers Local 1063 are places I have driven past on the way to work for the last 36 years. The shots of the large industrial smokestacks at the end of the block are the Granite City Steel works of US Steel. A shot down State St. includes the Commercial Shoe Shop. The shot of the old downtown area that includes the painted advertisement was interesting...the building has been torn down since this film was made.My son is a police officer and was interested to hear about the inclusion of his town (East Alton, IL) in the film.Gritty, greasy, noisy, everything you might imagine two steel towns to be (Alton and Granite City, IL). But I love them both.
